University of Texas at Tyler Athletics

PORTALES, N.M. -- UT Tyler rallied in dramatic fashion on the road Friday night at Eastern New Mexico, recovering from a two-set deficit to win three straight sets for an impressive 13-25, 22-25, 25-19, 25-17, 17-15 road win.
 
Kylee Becker led a group of four Patriots with double-digit kills, recording a match-high 18 kills to go with 17 digs while Savannah Guzman was the leader among four UT Tyler players in double figures for digs with a match-high 19 digs.
 
With the five-set victory, UT Tyler improves to 10-13 overall and 5-10 in Lone Star Conference play, while Eastern New Mexico falls to 4-19 overall and 2-13 in the LSC.
 
How It Happened: In the opening set, Eastern New Mexico rolled to a 25-13 win as UT Tyler scored consecutive points just once until ENMU already held a 17-8 edge.  A three-point run cut the lead to 17-11, but the Greyhounds responded with an 8-2 run to close out the first set.  In the second set, UT Tyler's 11-9 lead evaporated when Eastern New Mexico reeled off seven straight points to take a 16-11 lead.  The Patriots never surrendered consecutive points again in the set, clawing back to within two at 24-22, but Julie Tucker notched a set-clinching kill for Eastern New Mexico to put UT Tyler in a two-set deficit.
 
Neither team led by more than two points early in the third set until UT Tyler recorded four in a row to break a 13-13 tie.  Kyana Alvarez registered an ace while Maiya Peña notched a solo block and a kill to give the Patriots a 17-13 edge.  UT Tyler led the rest of the set, turning a 19-18 lead into a 25-19 victory by closing out the set with a 6-1 run as Peña provided the set-clinching kill.
 
The lead changed hands four times in the early going of the fourth set, the last time with a 9-3 UT Tyler run which transformed a 7-6 deficit into a 15-10 advantage.  Eastern New Mexico pulled within two points twice (17-15 and 18-16), but the Patriots finished strong with seven of the final eight points including four kills from Kylee Becker to help finish off a 25-17 victory which tied the match at two sets apiece.
 
The fifth set featured 13 tie scores (including every point from 5 through 15) and seven lead changes, the last coming when UT Tyler fought off a 15-14 set point to score three straight and collect a 17-15 victory.  Peña kept her team alive with a kill that tied the set at 15-15, and the Patriots scored the final two points on Eastern New Mexico errors to complete the comeback and claim the five-set road win.
 
By The Numbers: UT Tyler improves to 4-3 in five-set matches this season… Both teams notched eight blocks… Eastern New Mexico made nine service errors but served eight aces… UT Tyler finished with a slight advantage in kills (60-57) and digs (71-68)… The Patriots posted a negative hitting percentage in the opening set but responded with three consecutive sets over .200, including a fourth set of .429 when UT Tyler recorded 15 kills with just 3 errors on 28 attack attempts.
 
UT Tyler Stat Leaders: Kylee Becker posted her third straight match with at least 15 kills, tallying a match-high 18 kills to go with 17 digs for her ninth double-double of the season.  Maiya Peña recorded 12 kills and a .400 attack percentage, and she led the Patriots in blocks with 4, and Hannah Callison added 11 kills with a .348 attack percentage.  Christina Escamilla was the fourth Patriot to reach double figures, finishing with 10 kills.  Taylor Stoops registered 52 assists, her third time over 50 assists in a match this year, and she also notched 10 digs.  Savannah Guzman posted a match-high 19 digs, and Kyana Alvarez finished with 10 digs, as well.
 
Eastern New Mexico Stat Leaders: Sarah Tuioti-Mariner and Jasmine Gannon led the Greyhounds with 13 kills each, and they led ENMU defensively with Tuioti-Mariner's team-high 14 digs to add to Gannon's 12 digs.  Both also finished with a pair of blocks.  Gracelyn Stubbs registered 10 kills, 3 blocks, and a team-high 3 aces, while Julie Tucker finished with a team-high 4 blocks for the Greyhounds.
 
What's Next: UT Tyler visits West Texas A&M on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. before closing out the season next weekend with a two-match, home-and-home Lone Star Conference rivalry series against Texas A&M-Commerce (Nov. 15-16).